Mechanosensing and anesthesia of single internodal cells of .

The giant (2-3 × 10 m long) internodal cells of the aquatic plant, , exhibit a rapid (>100 × 10 m s) cyclic cytoplasmic streaming which stops in response to mechanical stimuli. Since the streaming - and the stopping of streaming upon stimulation - is easily visible with a stereomicroscope, these single cells are ideal tools to investigate mechanosensing in plant cells, as well as the potential for these cells to be anesthetized. We found that dropping a steel ball (0.